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attacama40
Headliner I
March 11, 2021

Getting Sonos & Philips Hue Entertainment App to play together - Music

  • March 11, 2021
  • 16 replies
  • 4457 views

Afternoon all. Have a reasonable size Sonos system built over time covering inside & garden on S2 now. All working a treat. 

Over time I’ve acquired more of these Philips Hue lights than I realised and they are rather good on the whole. I have about 15 of them in the garden I think.

I’ve a need (later year - birthday event) to get the two working together.

I have the Philips Hue Entertainment App installed on Win 10 PC and it talks to all the lights very happily and I can create multiple entertainment zones. 

But I do not know how to use Sonos as the source to get the Hue lights to do their thing i.e flash and change colour in time to the music. Probably sounds naff but looking to play the opening quiet 3 mins of The Prague Philharmonics version of Blue Danube outside with a gentle light performance before the remaining 7 mins to a professional firework display. Hey you not 60 every day and I met her in Vienna during this performance :-)

I guess I could buy and configure a Port and use a aux line in from that to the PC RCA’s and then use that to the Philips Hue App on the PC. Would that work?

Or is there a way any clever folks have to use the Sonos app on the PC to feed the Hue app on the same PC?

It sounds simple but then again I’m asking so maybe not so.

Either way, if anyway knows of a way (hardware or software) that would allow this facility to be made a reality I’d be really grateful to know of it.

Many thanks in advance

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16 replies

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Torri G
Lyricist II
April 17, 2021

@Corry P, I’m attempting to do something very similar with my Sonos and Philips Hue setup.

I started down the PC route but thought there might UX limitations.

Alternatively, I was thinking I could connect an HDMI sync box to the HDMI output on the Sonos Amp I have outside.

Do you think that would work?

 

106rallye
106rallye
April 17, 2021

Isn’t the HDMI on the Amp more like an input (the audio form the Audio Return Channel in HDMI-ARC). I think it only outputs the screensaver image and no sound. So there would be nothing for the Hue Sync box. I’m also not sure if the Hue Sync will react to sound only - wil it not need an image to create colors?

    Torri G
    Lyricist II
    April 19, 2021

    ARC is bi-directional and I’ve tested the sync box with audio-only sources successfully before, so I thought this was worth a shot.  With that said - I’m shooting in the dark.  I don’t really know.

    Corry P
    Corry P
    Sonos Staff
    April 19, 2021

    Hi @Torri G 

    I’m afraid HDMI-ARC is not bidirectional, and I don’t believe the Hue HDMI Sync box uses it anyway - the box intercepts the signal from HDMI devices before they reach the TV.  As Sonos doesn’t play it’s music through HDMI, I don’t believe this would work - at least not for non-HDMI sources of audio. In addition, the HDMI socket on the Amp is not really an output, as @106rallye mentioned - at least, not in the way it’d need to be for that box to work.

    I recommend you get in touch with Philips, however, as I had never even heard of that device until 10 minutes ago and I may be misunderstanding how it is used.

     

     

    "Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
      Torri G
      Lyricist II
      April 22, 2021

      Thank you.  I’ll go back to the drawing board...

      Corry P
      Corry P
      Sonos Staff
      April 22, 2021

      Thank you.  I’ll go back to the drawing board...

      Sure, but please feel free to ask for more advice - we’re all here to help.

      "Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
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